Feature

Interview of Mark Bickerton of London Metropolitan University

Zannatul Lamea

With a vision of providing infinite opportunities for the student community, London Metropolitan University started its journey as a college in 1848. With the course of time and consistent ascent of quality in terms of delivering education, London Metropolitan University now has the honour of being the largest single university in London and the 3rd largest university in UK.

The university offers 485 different courses in total, including key areas like Architecture, Business, Finance & computing, Software engineering, Law, Mass communications etc. Maintaining a rigorous quality of standard in student admission, London Met provides excellent service and complete guideline starting from application methods to accommodation facilities.

Recently, London Metropolitan University is conducting seminars across the universities of Bangladesh aiming to make their educational program more familiar to the student community of the country. Says Mark Bickerton [Director, Student Recruitment, Marketing and International Development, London Metropolitan University], “Every university wants the best students regardless of the fact wherever the best comes from. I have been coming to Bangladesh for quite a long time now and from my previous experience I can definitely say that Bangladeshi students are very promising in educational sector. They realize quality education is the doorway to a versatile and prolific career. And so London Met aims to serve the very best of students, giving them a platform to pursue their career.”

Apart from regular admission process, London Met also had its scholarship program, designed to cater the needs of meritorious students. And very recently, the university has launched a new full post-graduate scholarship only for Bangladeshi students in the name of the great scholar Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah. The scholarships mainly are for post-graduate international students, and are normally awarded in June and December.

“I have personally encountered many students specially girls who have had drop-outs before or after HSC. While I was on a scholarship program at Cox's Bazar, I noticed that majority of the girls were married before HSC and so subsequently stopped their education midway. A couple of these students might have higher aspirations in their heart, they might have had the talent and ambition to pursue higher education, but these hopes may not have materialized only due to absence of proper opportunity. Our scholarship programs are directed towards these kinds of ambitious students, to help them go further and achieve their desired destination of receiving quality education.” remarks Mark, speaking on the objective of the scholarship program of the university.

The University requires a minimum IELTS score of 5.0, with the HSC or A' Levell completion degree for Bachelor students. And for Masters/Post graduate program, the requirements remain an IELTS score of 5.5 minimum, or TOEFL score 620/247 with 4 years of Bachelors or Honours degree. After you qualify in the admission tests, London Met will guide you through the complete process right from filling out the forms to landing at the campus. In this regard K.M. Mazharul Islam Maruf, the operations manager of Bangladesh country liaison office added, “We totally understand parents' concern about the students safety and accommodation issues. We try our best to make each step easier for them, as much as we can.”

With a generous smile, Mark Bickerton concluded, “I was expecting a lot of response and I am getting more than expected. Knowledgeable students are thriving for accurate information and I am trying my best to meet their enquiries. Higher education in any and every field is about specializing in a particular arena. And specialization needs in-depth analysis and study of your subject matter. And when it comes to specialize, why settle for a compromise when you can achieve the very best?”

For further information, please contact the Bangladesh Liaison Office at Bangladesh@londonmet.ac.uk